Sasuke cast a side-long glance in Naruto's direction as he set up their tent. Naruto was rigging traps around the premises. Some of those traps could paralyze a small elephant. No one was getting in here without them knowing about it.
Sasuke admired the ease that the dobe had at his work. He wondered how Naruto could possibly be content working at a desk all day. A very depressing thought occurred to Sasuke. If Naruto was going to die, this is how he would have wanted to go. In action.
Sasuke pushed such thoughts from his head. Naruto was not going to die. Sasuke wouldn't allow it. His dobe would be just fine, dammit. Sasuke needed to distract himself from such things. "Ne, Naruto?"
Naruto didn't even look up. "Yeah?"
"Don't you ever miss this?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto looked up for the first time. Sasuke thought he saw the slightest blush in Naruto's face. "Miss what?"
"You know, this," Sasuke said, waving his hands. "Doing missions. Being out here and not behind the Hokage's desk. This."
"Oh." Naruto's voice had a hint of disappointment in it. He had half-hoped Sasuke meant spending time together. 'Stupid!' he thought. "Not as much as you would think."
Sasuke's brow creased in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Naruto's eyes sparkled. "You didn't think I would give all of this up at once, did you?"
"I'm not following you."
Naruto chuckled. "The Yondaime did the odd mission outside of the village too. I'm a lot like him. I don't like to sit still and doing nothing but paperwork would drive me insane."
Sasuke was abruptly furious. His dobe was sneaking out of the village without protection. He could be killed. Not only would the village suffer, should that be the outcome, but Sasuke didn't think he could stand having his heart broken. "You've been SNEAKING OUT OF THE VILLAGE!" Sasuke yelled. "What if you get hurt? What if you're KILLED?"
Naruto's eyes widened. Why was Sasuke yelling at him? What difference did it make if left the village for a few hours at a time? He was the Hokage, god damn it. He could take care of himself for a few hours. He DID NOT need to be babysat.
"So what if I did?! I needed some action so I did what I had to do! It's not like you care anyway!" Naruto yelled.
Sasuke felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. The dobe thought he didn't care? Naruto cut off this train of thought quickly, "I'll take first watch."
Naruto had finished setting traps and went to sit down on a log. Sasuke looked up at the sky and Naruto was indeed correct. It had gotten dark. Between visiting Hitan, locating Kammedi's camp, finding their own campsite, and setting up camp, they had lost the whole day.
Sasuke nodded dumbly and went inside the tent. As he lay down, his mind kept wandering back to Naruto. It's not like you care anyway!
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After a few hours of restless sleep, all filled with dreams that concerned Naruto dying thinking that Sasuke didn't care about him. Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. He sat up in his sleeping bag. He had to talk to Naruto, to tell him the truth. Well, maybe not he whole truth, but at least the he did care.
With this in mind, Sasuke exited the tent. Naruto was lying on his back in the grass. At first, Sasuke thought he had fallen asleep. Then he realized he was gazing at the stars.
Sasuke hesitantly sat down next to him. "Hey," he whispered.
Naruto's eyes flashed towards him. "Hi." There was silence for a moment. "Shouldn't you be in bed?" Naruto finally asked.
"Maybe, but I can't sleep," Sasuke said. "I-I'm really s-s-sorry." Naruto's eyes filled with shock and confusion. Sasuke never apologized and especially not to him.
Sasuke, reading Naruto's expression, continued, "For yelling at you before. I was out of line, but you were wrong."
Naruto tried to stop himself from being angry. Sasuke was trying to apologize, after all. He just wasn't doing it right. "And what was I wrong about?" Naruto asked in as calm of voice as he could manage.
Sasuke looked at the ground. "You said I didn't care about you. You were wrong."
The anger that had started to build up was quickly negated. "Thanks, Sasuke."
A shooting star flew across the sky. Systematically, they each thought, 'I wish Naruto/Sasuke would love me.'
Naruto chuckled at the naivety of his thoughts. Of course Sasuke would never love him. Upon hearing Naruto's chuckle, Sasuke glanced at him. Had Naruto somehow read his thoughts? But, no, that couldn't be it. He was smiling. He'd be disgusted if he ever found out.
"What's so funny dobe?"
Naruto smiled and shook his head. "You should get some sleep. We have a few hours before we're supposed to switch watch."
Sasuke stood up. "Right." He walked back to the tent. "Goodnight," he whispered, thinking Naruto couldn't hear him.
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Naruto smiled gently at hearing Sasuke whisper 'goodnight.' He knew Sasuke didn't realize he could hear him so he didn't respond. But still, talking to Sasuke made him feel all warm inside. The teme cared about him. Maybe not to the same extent Naruto felt, but it was nice. He cared.
When the time came to wake Sasuke and switch watch, Naruto waited. He had heard Sasuke rolling around in the tent before. Likely, his sleep hadn't been very restful. He was sleeping peacefully now, though, so Naruto gave him an extra hour and a half before waking him. He didn't need as mush sleep any, because of the Kyuubi.
After an hour and a half, he knew he had to wake him or he would be angry. As Naruto entered the tent, he was smiling. Sasuke looked so relaxed in his sleep. He hated to have to wake him up.
Naruto touched Sasuke's shoulder, "Teme. Wake up. Sasuke." Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he tensed and relaxed as he saw Naruto.
"Time to switch?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded. "Okay, get some sleep."
"Goodnight," Naruto said as Sasuke got up.
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